The National Fatherhood Initiative cites 10 social crises that could likely be averted without a single tax dollar going toward them if you keep dad in the family. By God’s grace, that’s all it would take.

Since both major political parties recently nominated candidates for fall elections, we need to scrutinize which nominees are aware government can never replicate what only dad can do for the family, the community, the economy and our state.

Worthy candidates for governor and senator ought to be cognizant of the “father factor” and work toward getting dad home, educated and employed. Father’s Day ought to keep that notion fresh in our minds.

We’ve heard statistics like these before, but because they’re still true, we need to act on them.

Dad’s presence

When dad is in the home and involved with his kids, children do better socially, emotionally and academically. Fewer behavioral problems surface. Reading scores improve. This particular study was done in homes where mom was an adolescent. So even at-risk youngsters have greater hope for success with a positive father presence at home. Magnify those results with a mature mom in the picture.

If dad is in the home, married to mom, poverty is highly unlikely. The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition reports that roughly 174,000 Minnesotan children (14 percent) live in poverty. Two-thirds live in single-parent homes. When those households are headed by women, the poverty rate is 27.8 percent. The problem isn’t going away.

Now is the time to get dad back in the home and shoot a hole in poverty.

When dad is married to mom and lives in the home, children show lower levels of aggression than children born to single moms.

Interestingly, infant mortality rates are higher among babies born to single mothers than to married women. Dad’s presence seems to be a matter of literal life and death.

Dad’s absence from the home and the life of his offspring comes close to a jail sentence for his child. The NFI discovered “youths in father-absent households … had significantly higher odds of incarceration than those in mother-father families. Youths who never had a father in the household experienced the highest odds.” Whether the child lands in jail, delinquency of any sort is significantly higher in fatherless homes.

With no dad in the picture, the likelihood of an offspring parenting a child as a teen escalates, as does the probability the same teen will gain less than a high school education and form a marriage where neither partner finishes high school. Without at least a high school diploma, the cycle of poverty spins into the next generation.

Drug and alcohol abuse, as well as obesity, tend to affect children in father-absent homes.

Nor will just any dad in the home solve the problems associated with absentee fathers. Child Protective Services document instances of child abuse are higher in families with a “social father” than in those with the biological dad heading the home.

Legitimate reasons for the biological father’s absence exist, but careless live-in partners are the culprits in too many child abuse cases. However, when any involved dad is at home — biological, adoptive, step-dads or even single-parent dads — more children earn high marks in their academic pursuits.

Dad’s weighty role is by design. The Christian scriptures purposely assign the title “Father” to God. Of the names for God in those scriptures, many denote him as powerful, protective and providing. Being made in God’s image, men can imitate these fatherly characteristics and turn the tide of social decay.

If our new leaders want to improve Minnesota, they need to empower churches and social organizations to help men succeed in school, in the job market and in leading a healthy home. Let’s not deceive ourselves into thinking another government handout will solve the problem.

This is the opinion of Cathy Williamson, a landscape architect, home educator and former youth worker. Williamson’s column is published the first Thursday of the month.